英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

calid (adj.)[calid 词源字典]: 1590s, from Latin calidus "warm," from PIE root *kele- (1) "warm" (see calorie).[calid etymology, calid origin, 英语词源]
California: name of an imaginary realm in "Las sergas de Esplandián" ("Exploits of Espladán"), a romance by Spanish writer Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo, published in 1510. It was a sequel to his "Amadis de Gaula," and was said to have been influential among Spanish explorers of the New World. It could have led them to misidentify Baja California as this mythical land and to mistake it for an island. The Amadis tales are the Iberian equivalent of the Arthurian romances; they are older than 1510 (traces of them have been found mid-14c.) and were wildly popular. That conquistadors and sailors would have known the story in all its imaginative detail is hardly surprising.
Amadis de Gaula ... set a fashion: all later Spanish writers of books of chivalry adopted the machinery of Amadis de Gaula. Later knights were not less brave (they could not be braver than) Amadis; heroines were not less lovely (they could not be lovelier) than Oriana; there was nothing for it but to make the dragons more appalling, the giants larger, the wizards craftier, the magic castles more inaccessible, the enchanted lakes deeper. Subsequent books of chivalry are simple variants of the types in Amadis de Gaula: Cervantes made his barber describe it as 'the best of all books of this kind.' This verdict is essentially just. Amadis de Gaula was read everywhere, especially in the French version of Herberay des Essarts. It was done into Hebrew during the sixteenth century, and attracted readers as different as St Ignatius of Loyola and Henry of Navarre. Its vogue perhaps somewhat exceeded its merit, but its merits are not inconsiderable. [James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, "Spanish Literature," 1922 edition]
Where Montalvo got the name and what it means, if anything, is a mystery. Californian is attested from 1785. The element Californium (1950) was named in reference to University of California, where it was discovered.
caliginous (adj.): 1540s, from Latin caliginosus "misty," from caliginem (nominative caligo) "mistiness, darkness, fog, gloom." Related: Caliginosity.
caligraphy (n.): alternative spelling of calligraphy.
Caligula: cognomen of the third Roman emperor (12 C.E.-41 C.E.), born Gaius Caesar. The nickname is Latin, literally "little boot," given when he joined his father on military campaigns when still a toddler, in full, child-sized military gear; diminutive of caliga "heavy military shoe," which is of unknown origin.
caliper (n.): 1620s, short for calliper compass (1580s), a device used to measure caliber (q.v.). Related: Calipers.
caliph (n.): late 14c., from Old French caliphe (12c., also algalife), from Medieval Latin califa, from Arabic khalifa "successor," originally Abu-Bakr, who succeeded Muhammad in the role of leader of the faithful after the prophet's death.
caliphate (n.): "dominion of a caliph," 1610s, from caliph + -ate (1). Meaning "rank of a caliph" is recorded from 1753.
calisthenics (n.): 1847 (calisthenic (adj.) is from 1839), formed on model of French callisthenie, from Latinized comb. form of Greek kallos "beauty" (see Callisto) + sthenos "strength" + -ics. Originally, gymnastic exercises suitable for girls and meant to develop the figure and promote graceful movement. The proper Greek, if there was such a word in Greek, would have been *kallistheneia.
call (v.): Old English ceallian "to call, shout," less common than clipian; replaced by related Old Norse kalla "to cry loudly," from Proto-Germanic *kall- (cognates: Dutch kallen "to talk," Old High German kallon "to call"), from PIE root *gal- (2) "to call, scream, shriek, shout" (cognates: Sanskrit garhati "bewail, criticize;" Latin gallus "cock;" Old High German klaga, German Klage "complaint, grievance, lament, accusation;" Old English clacu "affront;" Old Church Slavonic glasu "voice," glagolu "word;" Welsh galw "call"). Related: Called; calling.

Meaning "to give a name to" is mid-13c. Coin-toss sense is from 1801. Meaning "to visit" (Middle English) was literally "to stand at the door and call." Telephone/telegraph sense is from 1889. To call out someone to fight (1823) corresponds to French provoquer. To call it a day is from 1834.
call (n.): early 14c., from call (v.). Sense of "a short formal visit" is from 1862.
call girl (n.): "prostitute who makes appointments by phone," c. 1900, from call + girl.
caller (n.): c. 1500, "one who proclaims," agent noun from call (v.). Meaning "one who announces step changes at a dance" is recorded from 1882; "one who places a telephone call," 1898. Meaning "a social visitor" is attested from 1786.
calligraphy (n.): 1610s, from Greek kaligraphia, from kallos "beauty" (see Callisto) + graphein "to write" (see -graphy). Related: Calligraphic. The usual comb. form in Greek was kalli- "beautiful, fine, happy, favorable;" kalo- was a later, rarer alternative form.
calling (n.): "vocation," mid-13c., verbal noun from call (v.). The sense traces to I Cor. vii:20.
calliope (n.): 1858, "steam-whistle keyboard organ," named for Calliope, ninth and chief muse, presiding over eloquence and epic poetry, Latinized from Greek Kalliope, literally "beautiful-voiced," from kalli-, combining form of kallos "beauty" (see Callisto) + opos (genitive of *ops) "voice," related to Latin vox (see voice (n.)).
calliper (n.): variant of caliper. Related: Callipers.
callipygian (adj.): "of, pertaining to, or having beautiful buttocks," 1800, Latinized from Greek kallipygos, name of a statue of Aphrodite at Syracuse, from kalli-, combining form of kallos "beauty" (see Callisto) + pyge "rump, buttocks." Sir Thomas Browne (1646) refers to "Callipygæ and women largely composed behinde."
Callisto: fourth moon of Jupiter; in classical mythology a nymph, mother of Arcas by Zeus, turned to a bear by Hera, from Greek kallistos, superlative of kalos "beautiful," from PIE *kal- (2) "beautiful." Feminized as proper name Callista.
callithumpian (adj.): 1836, U.S. colloquial, probably a fanciful construction. The "English Dialect Dictionary" reports Gallithumpians as a Dorset and Devon word from 1790s for a society of radical social reformers, and also in reference to "noisy disturbers of elections and meetings" (1770s). The U.S. reference is most commonly "a band of discordant instruments" or bangers on pots and pans, especially to "serenade" a newlywed couple to show disapproval of one or the other or the match.